Nasa astronauts on Christmas Eve spacewalk

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Orbiting 260 miles above the earth, two astronauts spent Christmas Eve
performing critical repairs outside the International Space Station in a
risky 17,500 mph exercise livened by the appearance of unexpected
‘snowflakes’ as they worked.

American crewmates Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins spent just over seven
hours outside the airlock, secured by safety tethers, on a mission to
replace a faulty coolant pump whose failure earlier this month forced the
shutdown of some of the station’s electrical systems.

Nasa commentator Rob Navias, stationed at Johnson Space Centre in Houston,
Texas, joked that the festive timing of the spacewalk had prompted